Remember when commercial radio meant something? Remember when it broke songs and played music and interviewed artists and albums would be debuted in their entirety at midnight on the day they were released? Joe Jackson does. One of punk's original angry young men with 'On Your Radio'

Sending you on your way tonight with a sharp and biting rock classic from Pete Townshend, 'Rough Boys' from his Empty Glass album. It rocks, it has brilliantly added brass, and it was part of the soundtrack of one of the best summers of Johnny's life.

Friday, August 30, 2013

A late game out on the left coast ended the same way some of the games on the right coast do, with a loss.

The Star-Ledger reports the game came to an official end at 3:32 am this morning. Either way, late night or early morning losing a game Rutgers put themselves in a position to win on the road has to hurt. The Scarlet Knights were up 7 with under two minutes to play and let Fresno tie the game. Still the Piscataway 11 had a chance win on a late field goal in regulation but alas, missed. We also wonder about the decision to kick it when head coach Kyle Flood sent on kicker Kyle Federico maybe one play too early. We think Rutgers could have tried for even 5-10 more yards before that kick, they had the time to try. There was also Flood's risky (albeit successful) 2-point call in the first overtime to add more juice to the story. Rutgers will be anything but predictable this year we have a feeling.

So a tough loss in a wild shootout replete with strange coaching decisions, excitement to the very end, and plenty to work on. Way too many penalties (we know, first game) and 2 turnovers. Gary Nova had a good game out of the box throwing for 348 yards and 5 touchdowns on 26/41 passing. Junior Paul James had a strong game on the ground for Rutgers with 182 yards on 22 carries. That's huge.

Rutgers is home next Saturday to take on the Norfolk State Spartans, kickoff at noon.

Movie trivia night. Did you know that Tom Cruise, John Cusack, Jim Carrey, and Johnny Depp were all considered for the role of Ferris Bueller before it went to Matthew Broderick? It's a Hollywood fact.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

It didn't matter last month, it won't matter in two years and it doesn't matter today. He is running for United States Senate, not Pope. If you're not going to vote for someone simply because they are gay or you think they're gay it shows YOU as a small-minded voter.

If you still insist on thinking there is nothing wrong with disliking someone just because they are gay you are in luck. Just so you don't have to go stand in line with a bunch of liberal/gay Booker supporters on election day, Booker supporters are to vote Wednesday October 16th while you Lonegan supporters vote Thursday October 17th.

There you go, you can safely stay as far away from gays on October 16th as you please.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Let's meet him shall we? Here's a really nice video story on William "Pee Wee" Scheidt who is known as the unofficial mayor of Times Square. He's an unapologetic Yankees fan and it would sound like he likes breaking tourists balls over things. Filmmaker Jeff Seal followed the mayor around for a day and if you follow this link you can find what he found, a spritely senior enjoying his city.

But according to Jersey City Spokesperson-for-Life Jennifer Morrill (As always we kid, we respect the job you do) Fulop hasn't petitioned for approval for the cancellation. When asked why Morrill declined to comment.

Hmmmm.

The Jersey Journal said nobody seemed sure about the way forward on this:

It’s not clear what happens if Jersey City never petitions the county to halt the reval. Kennelly referred The Jersey Journal to the state Division of Taxation, whose spokesman did not return a request for comment.

We're hopeful at this point Mr. Fulop will file the proper paperwork (Don't be like Governor Christie and lose out because incomplete papers were filed) and this mess gets cancelled. If you own property downtown you'd better read the last third of the article. You'd stand to lose more than chump change if the reval continues.

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Stupid people had guns on the PATH this morning. A stupid person decided someone had been disrespected which led to three people getting shot. Stupid people with bad aim rode the PATH this morning. One shot in the ankle, one shot in the leg and one shot in the hand. Like we said, stupid people.

What the hell, losers? 5:30 in the morning. What could possibly piss you off that early? Bad McMuffin? Just utter dotars. Disrespected? Giving a really great transportation line a bad name folks. This is exactly the kind of thing Mayor Fulop does not need in trying to raise awareness of Jersey City and encourage businesses and people from NYC to move here and expand the tax base. We fully support throwing the whole weight of the law at these losers. No plea bargains. None. Run these idiots up the nearest flagpole and let them dangle for all to see.

As we all know it takes the earth 365 days to rotate around the sun. It takes our solar system (Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Pluto, etc) 225 million years to circle the Milky Way galaxy. The last time Earth was located where it is today dinosaurs were just starting to roam the earth.

Sure, in theory you think having your own Personal Jesus would be cool but you just take a second to reflect on that. If you had a Personal Jesus you have to go to church every Sunday and let's face facts, if you have a Personal Jesus you're driving that church bus to boot. You'd miss the first half of every NFL 1pm game. Then maybe Personal Jesus isn't a J-E-T-S JETS! JETS! JETS! fan. The last 30 years should have taught us this. Then maybe after detailing and parking the church bus PJ wants to go to IKEA because their meatballs are one of his father's greatest creations. So there's the first half of the 4pm games too.

You think hard on that while Depeche Mode sings us a song about, whoa , hey, look at that, Personal Jesus!

Johnny was saddened to hear the news the Linda Ronstadt said she has Parkinson's Disease and is unable to sing anymore, as in at all. What a perfectly hideous disease and a horribly ironic side effect for her. We've always sung her praises and always will. If she can't sing we'll let video clips of her brilliant voice now sing for her. Linda Ronstadt with the beautiful 'Blue Bayou' to wrap up another Music Series.

Friday, August 23, 2013

The council across the Hudson issued a stinging veto override to Mayor Bloomberg last night in upholding their intent of the Community Safety Act in both setting up an independent inspector general and also allowing citizens who feel they have been profiled to sue not for money but corrective action. The veto override on the inspector general was expected and not nearly as contentious with the vote being 39-10 for the override. The part allowing citizens to sue was very contentious and the override passed by the razor thin margin 34-15. So, how did the Mayor take this? Oh read on citizen, he was angry friends, and Council President Christine Quinn is off the holiday card list:

“We cannot afford to play election year politics with the safety of our city, and we cannot afford to roll back the progress of the past 20 years,” he said. “This bill jeopardizes that progress and will put the lives of New Yorkers and our police officers at risk.”And then a 'Leave Britney Alone' moment:

“Over the past year, the greatest police department in the world has been subjected to constant attacks from elected officials and special interest groups.”
And then to everyone else involved in keeping his cops accountable:

“Today’s vote is an example of election-year politics at its very worst and political pandering at its most deadly.” (Deadly? A recent study showed when stop and frisk dropped in numbers so did crime --ed)
So where to next? The Mayor promises to sue to force the good people of New York City to to accept the fact he knows all and is all powerful.

As a City Council member, Mr. Fulop was a strident critic of the abatements, saying they were ripe for mismanagement and given out too freely. He said he would—for the first time—set firm criteria for giving out abatements based on where the developers built in the city to spur more investment in targeted areas."We're trying to move away from the stigma that Jersey City has had for a long time that it's about who you know," Mr. Fulop said. "We are taking the politics out of this."
There's also plenty for JC residents to chew on as the article revisits some of the abatements issues and failures from the previous Healy Administration:

State Comptroller Matthew Boxer cited Jersey City in a 2010 report that found significant revenue was being lost through tax abatements. The city exempted property valued at roughly $2 billion at the time, leading to a loss of about $120 million in property taxes and $30 million in Hudson County revenues, the report found.
So get that business part of your brain to working this morning, there's plenty of brain-food in this article for everyone.

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

*A large fire at a recycling plant in Jersey City was just brought under control in the last hour or so. Yes, that would be the billowing smoke on the skyline.

* Remember how a LOT of the red light cameras were 'somehow' misconfigured to give out extra tickets? Well Jersey City has more red-light camera issues, the yellow lights are abnormally short it turns out, and that means illegal ticketing. C'mon Mayor Fulop, talk to us about these abominations. Are you for them or not?

* A Linden bodega owner went all Brad Hamilton on a would-be robber who pulled a gun and demanded cash. The bodega owner tossed scalding hot oil on the perp who then stumbled out of the store no doubt to a plastic surgeon.

* Newark Archbishop John J. Myers has now sunk to tossing out threats and hiding behind an imaginary God to fight back against truth to power being spoken over his lack of oversight in dealing with pedophile priests. Sad.

* The Superstorm Sandy task force is out with their findings after last year's storm. Some of the top bullet points are to coordinate regionally on response and prepare for larger, more intense storms going forward.

Monday, August 19, 2013

Yes they were participating with house money the “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” program funded by the state. The checkpoint was set up right outside Journal Square. Know how many DWI tickets or drunk driving arrests they made? Zero. None. Bubkis. So either everyone already WAS driving sober and this was a complete waste of time, OR they should have set up a DWI checkpoint not next to Jersey City's giant public transportation hub where a train or bus or a cab is a few steps away.

We honestly do not think the JCPD set up there hoping to arrest drunk drivers. Oh that's what they'll say but again we don't think thats true at all. What they did do Friday night at the drunk driving checkpoint is hand out 51 citations from everything from a broken taillight to not having the proper insurance papers. THIS is what they were after, looking by sifting. See if we can't find a few scofflaws in cars that might have done something minor we can make a big deal out of it and get some coin for the city while we do.

Jersey City Police spokesperson Robert McHugh said “The goal of the program is to raise awareness about the dangers of drinking and driving through high-visibility enforcement, education, and to arrest motorists who choose to drive while impaired by drugs and alcohol.”

Looks like people already were aware there Robert. Guess your big dog and pony show checkpoint didn't raise any awareness. Next time you're going to run a fake DWI checkpoint to educate drivers on the dangers of drunken driving, go have it where people drive drunk.

So all you drunk drivers with places to go and people to hit, check out social media or cop radio and find out where not to go. One last thing, if you're going to drink and drive for god's sake, use a car.

How about we kick off the Music Series this week with something a little on the uplifting side. Something free of the cynicism and sneer that often permeates music. Nobody being disrespected, nobody fracking on somebody's farmland, nobody screwing anybody over. Just the living legend that is Steveland Wonder and the great song 'Isn't She Lovely'.

Friday, August 16, 2013

His excellency Steve Fulop was out with a link to this story on the Twitter this morning promoting a fantastic and forward looking article from The New York Times on Jersey City and where we are headed as a city. Much of the article talks about former NYC residents being quickly won over by the last gritty, art-friendly, and food fabulous enclave with any room to build, renovate, or reclaim.

The article points out that some who have moved from Brooklyn fled rents equal to or above those in Manhattan. When rents in Brooklyn outdo rents in Manhattan it's the surest sign Brooklyn and their MTV Awards aren't living any kind of Bohemian hardscrabble lifestyle anymore. The Sex Pistols and The Clash days are done and now it's Katarina and the Waves time for Brooklyn. Leave them alone with their thoughts for a spell friends, this may take a while to sink in.

Hell yes Jersey City. In the words of John Winger:

Grow? Who could grow more than me?Talk about massive potential for growth.I am the little acorn that becomes the oak.
Go faster Mr. Mayor. If Johnny can deal with hellishly loud gargantuan construction projects in his neighborhood the good people in Journal Square and The Heights and everywhere else deserve no less.

Oh and for those who might need a tipping point? Snooki and What'sHerName don't live here anymore. That was the last mayor.

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Outside it's a bright night
There's an opera at Lincoln Center
Movie stars arrive by limousine
The klieg lights shoot up over the skyline of Manhattan
But the lights are out on the mean streets
-- Lou Reed, Dirty Boulevard

Harris, a co-founder of Apollo Global Management, one of the largest private equity firms in the world, will also now control operating rights to all shows and events at The Rock. The Star-Ledger also spilled more on the Devils new braintrust and who'll be running the day-to-day operations:

Scott O'Neil, who became CEO of the 76ers earlier this year, will also be CEO of the Devils organization overseeing Devils business operations and Devils Arena Entertainment, which includes the Prudential Center. O'Neil is the former president of Madison Square Garden Sports, where he oversaw the business operations of three professional sports teams: the New York Rangers, the New York Knicks, and the New York Liberty. O'Neil will work closely with Lou Lamoriello, the Devils’ president/general manager.

So there you go. We congratulate Mr. Harris on his purchase. Now, you've got about a season an a half to become a GIVER in the revenue sharing setup in the NHL and not a constant TAKER before Johnny starts in on you. Welcome to the NHL.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Both Democratic and Conservative Parties will be choosing their candidates today in senate primaries. Yes the weather is horrid today and we're almost all under a flash flood watch, but do your part and vote.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Imagine this. Your cremated remains blasting off into low orbit where your living friends can actually track you zipping around for a few months on an iPhone app before you burst into an intergalactic spire of flame upon re-entry. How much fun would that be?

Well sure there's the dead part but come on, don't let that get in the way of a good time. A Gloomy Gus never has any fun. A company called Elysium Space will send your cremated remains into orbit for the low low price of $1,990 and zero cents. At that price you can't afford not to buy. Maybe you know, whoops, your space coffin goes a little cattywumpus and picks off an NSA satellite. You'd be doing us all one last favor.

If Casper the Friendly Ghost were alive today he'd approve of this we're pretty sure.

Saturday, August 10, 2013

...and set up shop in the troublesome parts of Jersey City and did their surveillance homework and arrested 111 nere-do-wells (but not the good kind of nere-do-well like Johnny) on various charges touching on drugs to guns to other weapons.

111, that's a pretty good haul of troublemakers. That sends a message. That shows the JCPD will sit in high crime areas all while violating nobody's rights and collecting info so the next wave of police can sweep up those they were doing surveillance on. Good job here fellers. Keep it up. Another couple roundups like these last three and these guys will start turning on each other thinking their friends are the ones tipping off the cops if they haven't already. They won't know whom to trust and that's the key. Keep them busy doing anything but planning their next robbery/crime.

Said his excellency Mayor Steve Fulop:

“We have taken a new approach to how the JCPD is working to solve public safety issues. But we are also investing in our jobs and recreation programs to provide more opportunities for our residents as we know that this is also part of the public safety solution.”
That's good stuff on a Saturday morning.

Your friend the teevee night:
The first ever remote control for television was invented in 1948. Known as the ‘Tele Zoom’, it cannot be called a remote control in the true sense of the word, as the device could only enlarge the picture on the tube and not change any channels or turn the television set on and off. The Flash-matic from Zenith, produced in 1955, was the first ever real remote control that could do all of the above and was completely wireless.

The report says the Devils' debt is at $230 million and team owner Jeff Vanderbeek missed the first payment on a recently restructured bank loan. In June, Vanderbeek was in talks with an investment group led by attorney Andrew Barroway to sell the team. Forbes reported that Barroway recently withdrew his offer after seeing the team's books.

Ta da! Guess the lockout didn't save you there Jeffy. All it did was help your losses accumulate faster and now, well, it's over. The NHL is saying that unlike the Coyotes they do not want the Devils franchise to go the bankruptcy route. So either a new owner is found, pronto, or the NHL will own another team. But the Devila are in the Metropolitan Division which with a sassy name like that will help bring interested buyers running.

As you know of you spent any time here during the last five years you'd know when a spate of violent crime or a surge in murders would happen we'd jump in Mayor Healy's shit and chide him about all his promises on crime, like him touting former Chief Comey's computer program to tell where crime is going to happen (yeah that never worked) and ask him if he truly had a plan other than taking guns off the street. So, Mayor Fulop, time to stand up and get something done on this topic. Another one of your citizens was gunned down last night and despite your comments and concerns and plans going forward voiced publicly, not much is changing. Except the body count.

Your effort to educate the city as to why and what is happening was a good start. We didn't used to get anything on that topic from the last guys other than "society is what society is." Your next step, which we hope was undertaken a couple weeks ago, is flooding the crime areas and beating some ass of the usual suspects to find out the who's, what's and where's. Don't make it polite, do what needs doing. Crisis situations call for crisis management. Making life tough on thugs by 'living' in their neighborhood is not 'stop and frisk'. No, it's 'sit on their chest until they are out of air' which is how we think you're gonna need to tackle this problem.

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Macy's likes to talk about a lot of things. Their commitment to the NYC area, their parade and fireworks on big holidays and of course they love talking about what's on sale.

But here's something the local media wasn't going to give Macy's credit for, that they so very much deserve to have shouted from rooftops; Macy's helped lobby Texas Governor Rick Perry to veto the Texas Living Wage bill.

Yes, the same Texas governor who not too long ago said all kinds of nasty things about New York City and promised to take jobs away from the area and relocate them to Texas. Macy's seemingly didn't hear Perry when he was in the city last OR they just don't care:

Macy's is using your money to screw over current and future employees in the Republic of Texas, how classy. But why no mention of it here Macy's? If you feel so confident that lobbying against your employees getting more take home pay is in everyone's best interests why not post it on your corporate Facebook page? Why not put a statement out on your company website happily admitting how you spend your lobbying money.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

The website Thrillist put together a list of the best pizzas in America and just what makes them so darned tasty. Razza Pizza at 275 Grove St. had their Artiginale land on the best list:

This is the best Neapolitan pizza that you better not call Neapolitan pizza. The crispy edged wood-fired pies at downtown Razza's serve up nothing but seasonally harvested New Jersey-everything, from the locally milled flour to the wild yeast that eats it before you devour fresh mozz, house-made sausage, and shaved onions baked in a secret sauce-blend of heirloom tomatoes.

Congrats to Razza Pizza, expect these Artiginale's to be flying out of the kitchen.

Monday, August 5, 2013

They should ban this self-serving, lying, arrogant douchcanoe for life. Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Braun, all of 'em. Don't care who they play for or how many RBI's they have. Broom the bunch.

Maybe a guy you'd never associate with baseball said it best in the dying moments of the Sex Pistols at the Winterland in San Francisco. Baseball fans FF this video to the :30 second mark and you'll immediately get the sentiment.

It wouldn't be the Jersey City Desk if we weren't ignoring perfectly good news for craptastic infotainment.

An article in The South Jersey Times points out that a kind of dining known as "fast casual" has caught on in a big way with fast casual restaurants like Smashburger, Pei Wei Asian Diner, Chipotle, Zoe’s Kitchen and Panera Bread doing so well these days they are having to move money to go to the bathroom.

Fast casual food is for people with just a little time to wolf down calorie-laden grub as opposed to those who are driven to get more done in a day by eating plain calorie-laden fast food in their officecars. Want Johnny's opinion? Just eat in your car or truck but don't make fast food your only option. As long as you have your seat belt on correctly and aren't talking on your cell phone or texting, all three of which have giant punishments behind them, you might as well boil your noodles for your Neptune salad in the passenger seat with propane from your camping gear. Hell make it steak and eggs and grill it right in the car as you drive. Other than some weak 'distracted driving' slaps on the wrist there are no serious penalties for cooking while driving, unlike using your phone. Hey, put on a chef's hat while you're at it. Sell it. Flip those eggs over easy on the covered 1 & 9 like a boss.

There you go, in-car fast and casual dining. You're going too fast and you have a casual relationship with the brake. A recipe for real driving fun without the police involvement of texting!

Johnny obviously wasn't around for the halcyon days of Maxwell's but he knew of it even back in Michigan. It's one of those iconic places good bands go to work on their craft. It was a real rock and roll joint. Sadly last night was Maxwell's last night in existence as higher rents and a few assorted other issues have come to this, a final retrospective on Maxwell's and the goings-on last night.

"My sense is that there would be much more support for what I do in Jersey City from both residents and the city itself than I'm finding in Hoboken right now."

White Eagle Hall is the spot being looked at (337-339 Newark Ave.) and here's hoping a deal can be worked out and good live music can once again captivate a new generation of listeners whether it's called Maxwell's South or Space Punk Palladia®, the music is what's important.

Not Johnny's favorite Bruce Springsteen song but it IS inside Maxwell's: